1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rubber stamps and, more particularly, to rubber stamps capable of producing special effects such as those producing sound, light and other special effects.
2. Statement of the Problem
Rubber stamps have been conventionally used for a long period of time to transfer an ink message onto paper sheets. A wide variety of rubber stamps are available which transfer ink images of animals, greetings, business information, or other types of images. Rubber stamps are normally hand-held devices, composed of an image transfer portion, known as the die or as the stamp element, permanently affixed in various manners to a handle portion, and utilized for transferring a predetermined ink message to a flat medium or target object, i.e. paper, which can receive and retain the printed message. The image to be printed is typically permanently molded into the die. The die is said to be "mounted" to the handle when it is affixed thereto. In the traditional rubber stamp industry the entire handle is often known as the "mount". Herein, however, the part of the rubber stamp device upon which the die is mounted may be distinguished from the part by which the device is held, as discussed elsewhere herein. The area of the rubber stamp device to which the die is mounted is typically a flat, rigid surface slightly larger in area dimensions than the stamp element mounted thereon. The image transfer process of ink stamping is an inexact printing process. Due to variations in the manufacturing of the die, the ink deposition and materials which are imprinted therewith, the die is often mounted upon a dense foam pad which is itself mounted upon the stamp handle. The pad allows the die to flexibly conform to mismatches in transfer surfaces.
The Applicant in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,067 has addressed the need to provide special effects to a conventional rubber stamp. Such effects include, for example, audible messages such as sound or music, visual messages such as different colored lights or sequences of light patterns, aromas, or combinations of such effects. The novel combination of a traditional rubber stamp with a mechanism to generate special effects during the use of that stamp has created value to the consumer and resulted in the emergence of a substantial market for such devices.
However, the addition of sound generating and switching mechanisms increases the manufacturing cost and cost to the consumer of the effects rubber stamp over that of a traditional rubber stamp of comparable size and quality. Additionally, each effects stamp only provides a single image with the effects message(s) and; therefore, children can become bored and, as with a single die traditional stamps, play value is limited.
A need exists to provide more economic value to the consumer through reduction in the cost per message (imprinted and effects) and to increase the play value of the effects stamp.
The Applicant has developed approaches to increasing the image variety and play value of effects stamps to the consumer in his invention of the Rubber Stamp Activity Set Having Special Effects, which is specified in the Applicant's pending application Ser. No. 07/912,480. The cost per message is also much lower in a special effects stamp activity set than it is in the single effects stamp, however, the total cost of such an activity set is much greater than that of a single special effects rubber stamp device.
The Applicant has further addressed the need for more variety and play value at a reduced per message cost in his invention specified in pending application, Ser. No. 07/977,225, Special Effects Rotating Rubber Stamp. In this invention the Applicant has provided special effects to rolling rubber stamps and rotating type rubber stamps which have a plurality of stamp elements. A rotating, multiple image effects stamp of this invention does achieve an increase in play value and a decrease in cost per message for the consumer compared to a single die effects stamp of the above mentioned patent. The increased economy is due to the use of a single sound chip circuit for multiple sounds and a single handle for multiple die. However, in the Applicant's rotating, multiple image effects stamp there exists a trade-off between the extra expense of a handle mechanism to allow the rotation of the housing while providing a convenient manner of holding the device, or having a potentially messy situation in which the die which are not being stamped are exposed while the user is stamping the desired image.
A need thus exists to have a variety of images and related special effects in a simple, hand-held effects rubber stamp device which is convenient to use and inexpensive.
Furthermore, a need exists for a multiple die rubber stamp with multiple related special effects that can be easily manufactured on a mass production basis.
3. Solution to the Problem
The present invention provides a solution to the above problems by providing a special effects rubber stamp device comprised of a plastic stamp handle and a plurality of die mount units which are individually interchangeable upon the handle. A die mount unit of the rubber stamp device includes a stamp die permanently mounted thereto and is formed to reversibly attach to the handle of the rubber stamp device. The stamp die carries the imprintable image molded thereon. The handle is formed on an end to reversibly attach to a die mount unit of the rubber stamp device. A cavity is provided in the handle so as to contain the electronic circuitry necessary to provide a plurality of special effects messages and to correlated specific message or messages with the specific attached die mount unit of the rubber stamp device. A sensor mechanism is affixed within the handle, such as an array of individually operable pressure sensitive switches disposed beneath the attached die mount unit, in order to trigger the electronic circuitry to issue the specific special effect(s) correlated with the image of the attached die mount unit simultaneously with the imprinting of the visual image from the rubber stamp device upon the desired medium.
The interchangeable image special effects rubber stamp device of the invention enhances the business, entertainment, toy or novelty value of the conventional special effects rubber stamp of the Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,067, and provides improved value and convenience over a multiple image rotating effects stamp of the Applicant's pending application Ser. No. 07/977,225.
Increased economy and play value compared to an effects stamp of U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,067 is achieved primarily by utilizing a single sound generating mechanism containing a plurality of sounds, an integrated multiple switching mechanism and a single handle to accommodate multiple die mount units. In digitally stored/replayed sound effects it is frequently possible to store and replay four or more sound effects for nearly the same cost as a single sound effect. This is so because of the standard sound chip memory sizes utilized by the industry, the programming of the available sound chips, and the sound quality expectations of the market. For example, a 2.8 second ROM digital sound chip (6K-12K bits/sec utilizing ADPCM sound compression) is standard sound chip for low end applications. It is manufactured in great quantities for many applications; and, hence is comparatively a very low cost device. This type sound chip is often selected for single sound devices; however, it can accommodate from one to eight separately stored and replayed sounds. Therefore, the interchangeable die mount rubber stamp device of the invention, providing multiple interchangeable images and multiple related sound effects provides a greater value to the consumer than existing special effects rubber stamp devices.
The interchangeable or switchable image, effects stamp of the present invention is more cost effective than a rotating, multiple image device of the Applicant's pending application Ser. No. 07/977,225 which is constructed with a handle mechanism and more convenient than such a device constructed without a handle. Furthermore, the switching mechanism required for the device of the present invention can be manufactured as a single, integrated unit, as discussed in detail elsewhere herein, thereby lowering the cost per message.
The present invention provides a variety of special effects including audible (speech, sound effects and/or music) and visual (light patterns and/or sequences, visual display), aromas, or a combination of sound, visual, and/or aromas. The message generating electronics of the present invention are contained within a cavity of the plastic handle so as not to interfere with the conventional operation or visual appearance of the conventional special effects rubber stamp.
Finally, the present invention can be quickly and easily assembled via mass production and is capable of being modified for different special effects.